NYAC Episcopal Candidates Endorsed

NYAC Episcopal Candidates Endorsed

The New York delegation to the 2012 General and Jurisdictional conferences has endorsed two of its members as candidates for bishop – Rev. Adrienne Brewington and Rev. Timothy J. Riss.

Brewington is the superintendent for the Long Island East District. She previously served Westbury UMC and First UMC in Hollis, N.Y.

Riss has served the Hicksville UMC since 2005; he was previously appointed to congregations in Smithtown, Catskill, Franklin, Fleischmanns and Halcott Center, N.Y. Riss currently serves as the chair of the conference Council on Finance and Administration.
The selections were made after several months of prayerful discernment by the delegation. After a self-nomination process, six persons completed the required written material by the deadline and were interviewed by the delegation, according to Rev. Bill Shillady, a delegation co-leader.

“Both the written material and the face-to-face interviews were equal for each candidate; all were asked the same questions,” Shillady wrote in an email. After three hours of prayerful holy conferencing, the delegation chose the candidates. The delegation will present the two endorsed candidates for consideration at the annual conference in June.

Leading the discernment process for the delegation were Jorge Lockward, Rev. David Henry, Carolyn Hardin Engelhardt, Marva Usher-Kerr and Shillady.

Any clergy member of an annual conference is eligible to be elected a bishop. Nominations or endorsements of individuals are common, but not absolutely necessary for election. Three new bishops for the Northeastern Jurisdiction (NEJ) will be elected at the jurisdictional conference, July 18-20 in Charlestown, W.Va.

After the new bishops are elected, all nine active bishops will be assigned to their episcopal areas for 2012-16. They begin serving those assignments on Sept. 1, 2012. The assignments are recommended by the NEJ Episcopacy Committee, which currently includes at least two representatives from each of the 10 conferences in the NEJ. Our representatives are Rev. Allen Pinckney and Fred Brewington.

Bishop Jeremiah Park is completing his second quadrennium as resident bishop of the New York Annual Conference. Bishops normally serve in one area for up to two four-year terms, but can continue for a third term with special approval of the jurisdictional conference.